The blueprint of the master plan of historical Palpa Durbar premises has gone missing, officials say.

The division office has said that the master plan, prepared by the then Urban Development and Building Division Office in 2006, was handed over to Tansen Municipality at that time.

But the municipality says that it is unaware of its whereabouts.

“We searched the master plan in every possible place, but couldn’t find it,” said Mayor Santosh Lal Shrestha of Tansen Municipality. “The municipality has no knowledge of the master plan. There were no elected representatives in the municipality when the division office handed over the plan’s blueprint.”

The then division office had prepared the master plan after holding a series of talks with political parties, historians, culture experts, local people and other stakeholders. Around Rs2 million was reportedly spent on the preparation of the master plan.

Palpa Durbar, also called Tansen Palace, was constructed during the Rana oligarchy in the 1920s. It served as an administrative building during the Rana rule. It is now a museum, but some government offices are operating from this recently restored building following a Maoist attack in 2006.

The durbar and its premises occupy around 64 ropani (3.26 hectares) of land. The District Administration Office, National Investigation District Office, Nepal Telecom, Palpa Distribution Centre of Nepal Electricity Authority, the District Police Office, District Coordination Committee, Palpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among other offices, are now operating from the reconstructed building.

The grand palace had been destroyed in an attack of the Maoist rebels on January 31, 2006. The 64-room palace was reconstructed later. According to people with knowledge of the matter, the master plan is the blueprint based on which the palace was reconstructed and it also includes plans for developing its surroundings.

“It will be quite helpful to develop the premises of the historical palace if the master plan is found,” said Mayor Shrestha. “We have been searching for the master plan for a long time, but have been unable to find it. The division office replied that it had handed the blueprint over to the municipality. Also, the Department of Archeology has not been cooperating in the process.”

The Department of Archeology provided a photocopy of the master plan. It has more than 50 pages. But, according to the municipality officials, the words in the documents cannot be deciphered.

According to historian Nirmal Shrestha, the master plan was prepared after holding several rounds of discussions with experts and stakeholders. “The master plan incorporates the history of the palace and outlines details regarding how to use the palace after its reconstruction,” Shrestha said. “But once the master plan became ready, it was never brought up for discussion.”

Tansen Municipality says it has emphasised the importance of the master plan for the development and utilisation of the durbar premises. The municipality recently held a meeting of stakeholders which was attended by Director General of the Department of Archeology Shaubhagya Pradhananga, under secretary at the department Ram Bahadur Kunwar, and Chief District Officer of Palpa Ananda Kafle, among others. The officials of the department assured to develop the Palpa Durbar area as per the master plan and work along with the municipality to develop Tansen as a historical and cultural town.

A meeting of Tansen Municipality held on May 10, 2023 decided to relocate all government offices from Palpa Durbar and develop the palace into a tourist destination. The local unit had also urged the Department of Archeology to help relocate the government offices from the palace. The municipality has already cleared 57 houses and huts from the palace grounds. “The municipality is committed to developing Palpa Durbar as a tourist destination,” said Mayor Shrestha.